I mentioned this in the 'Questions' forum not long ago and yes it is attested to that Yoda pulled down Luke's X-wing. The question is, though, what was Luke planning on doing. Just hovering randomly around the planet?

I mentioned this in the 'Questions' forum not long ago and yes it is attested to that Yoda pulled down Luke's X-wing. The question is, though, what was Luke planning on doing. Just hovering randomly around the planet?

I don't know, he's Mr. Impulsive that raced to Bespin based on a vague vision. It was fortunate that Vader laid a trap and pretty much orchestrated things to funnel Luke to the carbon freezing chamber, because if Vader just wanted to kill the rebel that destroyed the Death Star, I don't know what Luke thought he was going to do.

The Force, via Obi-Wan Force ghost, guided Luke to Dagobah in the first place, I'm guessing he felt the Force would guide him once he was there or maybe that he'd be able to scan for a settlement or something from orbit (I don't think he anticipated all of his instruments to go crazy and crash into a swamp).

Here's the real question, did Yoda cause the X-Wing to sink, in order to test Luke's abilities to pull it out?

I'm not sure if Yoda would have expected Luke's knowledge of the Force to have developed so fay by that point (immediately after he crashes). Of course, toward the end of Luke's training it would certainly have been opportune, and it demonstrated to Luke what the Force is capable of after he sees Yoda lift it out.

Here's the real question, did Yoda cause the X-Wing to sink, in order to test Luke's abilities to pull it out?

The X-wing sinks because it is a heavy object on a weak, wet ground that's not entirely stable. Underwater dirt/mud isn't going to be as stable as surface ground. Hence Luke's ship is fine after Yoda has lifted it out and put it somewhere safe.

IMHO, it's pretty clear Yoda guides Luke's X-Wing into the general direction of having him land where he wanted him. Luke certainly isn't using the Force; he's relying on his sensors and really doesn't know what to do when they all go dead.

You want the truth? The truth is that if Luke had crashed somewhere on Dagobah that was far away from where Yoda was it would have slowed down the movie too much to have had him search the whole planet for him. So having him crash near Yoda's area was a matter of convenience that you often see in movies. Any in-movie explanation would be secondary to the fact that Luke was going to find Yoda pretty quickly in ESB - whether it was by luck, fate/the force, whatever - for the sake of the film's pacing.

OOU: to have Luke roam around Dagobah would slow down the movie to epic proportions
IC: Obi-Wan indirectly guided him to where he needed to be, but that just raises the question on why Obi-Wan didn't just direct him like he did in ANH (vocally), but at least that makes the most sense.

As for Yoda I don't think he used the force much (except "watching" Luke) as that could alert him to the emperor.

I thought that weird magic tree was why Yoda felt Dagobah was a suitable hiding place. The aura of evil surrounding it- a domain of evil as Yoda describes it, makes it difficult to sense the Jedi Master. I think there was something in the novelization about it more specifically. Cannot remember, been nearly 20 years since I read it.

Yoda chose Dagobah as a place to hide from Sidious and Vader because of it's special qualities. One of these special qualities is the planet's natural defense to technology.

I think it was that the planet was teeming with so much life that the his own signature in the Force was undetectable. Made it impossible for Sidious, Vader or any of their spies to sense him.

Which I never really understood. Why sit around rotting away on Dagobah instead of taking another crack at Sidious, especially with Obi-Wan's help? And preferrably pretty soon after the events of ROTS. I know they had some hope in Luke, I guess, but it's hard to imagine him having a better shot at taking down the evil duo than Yoda and Obi-Wan together. And after the Chosen One's turn, I wouldn't have had too much faith in the will of the Force.

Yoda chose Dagobah as a place to hide from Sidious and Vader because of it's special qualities. One of these special qualities is the planet's natural defense to technology.

I think it was that the planet was teeming with so much life that the his own signature in the Force was undetectable. Made it impossible for Sidious, Vader or any of their spies to sense him.

Which I never really understood. Why sit around rotting away on Dagobah instead of taking another crack at Sidious, especially with Obi-Wan's help? And preferrably pretty soon after the events of ROTS. I know they had some hope in Luke, I guess, but it's hard to imagine him having a better shot at taking down the evil duo than Yoda and Obi-Wan together. And after the Chosen One's turn, I wouldn't have had too much faith in the will of the Force.

I always wondered why they didn't put as much faith in Leia as they did Luke. Even from a strategic point-of-view, Leia is at the heart of galactic politics and would clearly have a better shot at getting access to the Emperor and Vader on the Imperial capital than Luke ever would vaporizing moisture on Tatooine.

I thought that weird magic tree was why Yoda felt Dagobah was a suitable hiding place. The aura of evil surrounding it- a domain of evil as Yoda describes it, makes it difficult to sense the Jedi Master. I think there was something in the novelization about it more specifically. Cannot remember, been nearly 20 years since I read it.

It was Heir to the Empire that first raised the argument that the Dark Side Cave could have shielded Yoda.